Fatty acids are one of the principal constituent components of lipids. The fatty acids constitute lipids such as triacylglycerol by bonding to glycerin through an ester bond in vivo, and are stored and utilized as energy sources in many animals and plants. The fatty acids and lipids stored in animals and plants are widely utilized for food or industrial use, for example, intermediate materials of foods, such as monoacylglycerol and diacylglycerol, and additives or intermediate materials for various industrial products. Further, higher alcohol derivatives that are obtained by reducing higher fatty acids having approximately 12 to 18 carbon atoms are used as surfactants. For example, alkyl sulfuric acid ester salts and alkylbenzenesulfonic acid salts are utilized as anionic surfactants, and polyoxyalkylene alkyl ethers and alkyl polyglycosides are utilized as nonionic surfactants, and these surfactants are used for detergents or disinfectants. Likewise, as other higher alcohol derivatives, alkylamine salts and mono- or dialkyl quaternary amine salts are commonly used for fiber treatment agents, hair conditioning agents or disinfectants as cationic surfactants, and benzalkonium type quaternary ammonium salts are commonly used for disinfectants or antiseptics. Particularly, anionic surfactants and nonionic surfactants, each containing an alkyl moiety having approximately 12 carbon atoms, are useful as base materials for washing which exhibit high cleaning power, and cationic surfactants each containing an alkyl moiety having approximately 14 carbon atoms are especially useful as hair rinsing agents or the like. Furthermore, higher alcohols having approximately 18 carbon atoms are also useful as growth promoting agents for plants.
As above, fatty acids are widely used for various applications, and therefore, it has been attempted to enhance the productivity of fatty acids or lipids in vivo by using animals and plants. For example, methods of increasing the lipid content in seeds by introducing acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) (Patent Literature 1, Non-Patent Literature 1, and Patent Literature 5); methods of increasing the lipid content in seeds by introducing a yeast sn-2 acyltransferase (SLC1-1) (Patent Literature 2, Patent Literature 3 and Non-Patent Literature 2); and methods of increasing the lipid content in seeds by introducing diacylglycerol acyltransferase gene (DGAT) (Patent Literature 4 and Non-Patent Literature 3), have been proposed. Furthermore, it has been attempted to control the number of carbon atoms in a fatty acid (that is, the fatty acid chain length), since the utility or usefulness of fatty acids depends largely on the number of carbon atoms. For example, methods of accumulating fatty acids having 12 carbon atoms by introducing a Umbellularia californica (California bay)-derived Acyl-ACP thioesterase (Patent Literature 6 and Non-Patent Literature 4); a method of accumulating fatty acids having 8 or 10 carbon atoms by introducing a Cuphea hookeriana-derived Acyl-ACP thioesterase (Patent Literature 7); and a method of accumulating fatty acids having 14 carbon atoms by introducing a Cinnamomum camphorum-derived Acyl-ACP thioesterase (Non-Patent Literature 5), have been proposed.